FIFA adviser Pieth slams UEFA blocking tactics

Feb. 6, 2013
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by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

GENEVA (AP) - FIFA anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth believes European officials are blocking reforms in world football to further their own careers.

Pieth told the Associated Press that he looked for influential UEFA members to show more independence as their president, Michel Platini - the favorite to lead FIFA in 2015 - makes "unanimous declarations" on their behalf.

"I am disappointed with what UEFA is coming out with, with the help of the British and the Germans," Pieth said in a telephone interview. "People who have been critical in the past of FIFA are putting their own interests first rather than the interests of the institution. This is a pity because we have a remarkable chance at the moment."

The Swiss law professor said some countries who were "making big noises in the past" when FIFA was rocked by bribery and vote-buying allegations were not pressing hard enough for change.

Pieth spoke out ahead of a Feb. 26 meeting at FIFA which is central to the scope and success of President Sepp Blatter's promised two-year campaign to modernize how the world's most popular sport is governed.

A FIFA working group, chaired by German executive committee member Theo Zwanziger, will take feedback from the six continental confederations to shape the slate of reforms being voted on by 209 football nations in Mauritius in May.

However, Pieth is concerned that the so-called "football family" is straying too far from the reform agenda set by his expert panel which submitted a report to Blatter's ruling board last March.

He is clearly unhappy with UEFA's contribution to the debate, a proposal document which was published after UEFA's 53 member nations met in Switzerland two weeks ago.

"If you compare simply the lists we have come out with and what UEFA is prepared to buy, they are basically trying to cut half of it," Pieth told The AP.

UEFA suggested allowing future FIFA presidents 12 years in office, four more than Pieth advised to help curb corruption, and an unlimited number of four-year mandates for executive committee members. Pieth suggested a 12-year limit.

UEFA also opposed a fundamental Pieth request that candidates for FIFA office should be vetted for integrity by an independent panel within the world governing body's ethics and compliance bodies. Europe suggested that only continental bodies should be allowed to scrutinize their own people.

UEFA also proposed rules which could smooth France great Platini's path to becoming FIFA president. By requiring candidates to have backing from their home association, a nomination for Platini would block potential French rivals such as former FIFA international relations director Jerome Champagne.

"On the future, there is bickering and many people who have been asking for reform are at the moment thinking of their career," Pieth said.

FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar also represented a barrier to change, said Pieth, suggesting that the Spanish association president "hates the idea" of reform.

Villar, who Blatter has suggested could succeed him, chairs the FIFA legal committee which meets on March 7 to help present the reform slate to a ruling board meeting two weeks later.

"There is a lot of pushing and shoving going on behind the scenes," Pieth said. "We are in a very strange situation."

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